Operation Blessing would like to move forward by purchasing enough canned carp to fill a 40-foot shipping container. Louisiana Sea Grant and the LSU AgCenter now are working to meet this tall order.

Horan, an avid recreational fisherman, is enthusiastic. “The idea of using this scourge of American waters is wonderful,” he said. “If we could show these fish are good to eat, we could create jobs and feed people.”

More at NOAA

“Last year’s hurricanes and flooding not only engulfed homes and carried away roads and bridges in hard-hit areas of the country, it dispersed aggressive invasive species as well.

In Vermont, the floodwaters from Tropical Storm Irene and work afterward to dredge rivers and remove debris spread fragments of Japanese knotweed, a plant that threatens to take over flood plains wiped clean by the August storm.

The overflowing Missouri and Mississippi rivers last year launched Asian carp into lakes and oxbows where the fish had not been seen before, from Iowa to the Iowa Great Lakes. Flooding also increased the population along the Missouri River of purple loosestrife, a plant that suppresses native plants and alters wetlands.

“It’s quite an extensive problem around the country and it’s spreading,” said Linda Nelson, aquatic invasive species expert with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The agency’s budget for controlling invasive aquatic plants has grown from $124 million in 2008 to $135 million for fiscal year 2012.”

More from Lisa Rathke at HuffPo